Global News: Print Innovation, Paper and Art

UPM opened an art exhibition by the Chinese contemporary artist Wei Qingji on 14 August at Bioforum, UPM’s showroom at the UPM Biofore House. The exhibition is part of the Helsinki Festival programme, and it is organised in cooperation with the Centre of International Cultural Exchange, Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China.

Welcome to another roundup of news highlights and Laurel Brunner’s Verdigris Blog for Friday 14 August, which this week examines the Maggi Noodles ‘contamination’ saga which began in Uttar Predesh, India. There’s also a new addition in Online Features Chapter 06, featuring PhotoBox, Europe’s leading personalised product company, as it optimises its canvas production division with an Esko Kongsberg digital cutting and finishing device, supported by Esko’s Automation Engine Workflow solutions; and in our drupa Newsroom, the third drupa expert article, this month from Sean Smyth, discussing inkjet printing.

Although the news was rather thin on the ground this past week with only 16 articles in total, it contains some very important announcements. Monday saw a new one-day event announced, set to take place in Manchester, UK on 3 December. The GlobalChannelPartners Summit 2015 describes itself as a new and unique networking opportunity for UK, European and Global players in the printing and packaging industries. We also have Epson at ITMA in Milan, Italy in November.

Tuesday and Wednesday saw the latest figures from both Koening & Bauer and Heidelberg, which always provide a true indication of how the industry has performed over the past three to six months, and perhaps more importantly, what can be expected for the remainder of the respective financial years from the world’s largest press manufacturers. You’ll find KBA’s half year results leading the news on Tuesday and Heidelberg with its first quarter results on Wednesday. If you combine these with last week Friday’s announcements (the links are still below) from Sappi, Kodak and Langley Holdings which includes Manroland Sheetfed, then they provide a much broader picture or guide, and there are some real positive signs.

On Thursday, Goss International took the lead with the first triple-wide Uniliner newspaper press in the United States, and reveals top results from the new technology at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as it invests heavily in the long-term viability of printed newspaper editions. Friday’s lead is also devoted to the future of newspapers, but this time with digitally printed editions for Guernsey and Jersey, as the Guiton Group, which owns the Jersey Evening Post, partners with Kodak to introduce Stream Inkjet technology to create a more flexible business model for the future of the newspaper industry in the Channel Islands. The company plans to produce eleven titles in total, including ten of the leading UK national newspapers which currently rely upon being flown to the islands each day for local distribution. Also on Friday, Manroland Web Systems announces intelligent ‘Imposer’: The first automated imposition solution for both digital and offset printing.

There’s a few more if you check them out carefully, including some nice installations successes from HP Indigo at Traffic Print Online Solutions in Germany, which has installed the 200th HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press. Then we have Heidelberg prepress, press and postpress at Keno Graphic Services; Heidelberg Stahlfolder at Grunwald, and KBA at Travel Bags Inc, all in North America.

The tailender goes to UPM as it opens an art exhibition by Chinese contemporary artist Wei Qingji on 14 August at Bioforum, UPM’s showroom at Biofore House Helsinki, as part of this year’s Helsinki Festival programme. The exhibition will remain open until 31 October.

That’s all until next time.

My best regards,

Mike Hilton

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Our e-News comprises:

Headline News – Online Feature Articles – the Verdigris initiative from Digital Dots. Our Drupa and FESPA Newsrooms can be accessed from the Index on our Home Page, as well as News in Review, which provides a weekly overview and listing of all news added to the site.

Headline News
Over 27,000 news items have now gone online since we launched our Website in September 2001. News for the past 24 months can still be accessed via the Home Page and its continuation news pages

Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg), The world’s largest printing press manufacturer for the industry worldwide. Heidelberg customers enjoy the most comprehensive and extensive sales and service network in the industry for JDF compliant workflow, computer-to-plate, sheetfed offset, Web-to-print, digital printing, digital inkjet for labels and packaging, packaging and finishing, all with complementary consumables. Heidelberg has offices in around 170 countries. Visit the Heidelberg Website for more information.

Electronics For Imaging(EFI) is a world leader in digital imaging and print management solutions for the commercial printing market. Its portfolio of integrated solutions span production and superwide format printing, graphic arts, advanced professional printing software, and industrial inkjet systems. Its technologies increase productivity by automating print and business processes To find out more visit the EFI Website.

Kodak Commercial Imaging(Kodak) is a leading provider of innovative solutions for conventional, digital and hybrid print production environments. With the most expansive portfolio for the graphic communications market, Kodak features technologies, products and services that help print providers streamline processes, optimise efficiencies, broaden services, and grow businesses. To find out more, visit the Kodak Graphics Website.

drupa 2016 (drupa), the international flagship fair of the printing and media industry, responds to the challenges of the changing market and provides pioneering solutions for the future. This is highlighted by the new marketing and communication strategy where drupa claims its position as ‘No.1 for Print & Crossmedia Solutions’ with the slogan ‘touch the future’. The issues of ‘package printing’, ‘multichannel’, ‘green printing’, ‘3D printing’ and ‘functional printing’ will become increasingly important to the overall communication strategy. To find out more, visit the drupa 2016 Website.

Online Feature articles 2014 – 2015
There were again well over 90 last year, including nine downloads, as well as 92 articles in 2013 which can still be accessed via the Index on the Home Page, with prior years’ via Search Archives (option 2) on the Website.